Holiday Party
by FangirlSupreme
Summary: In which Maria thinks that maybe agreeing to be her crush's fake date might not be a good idea. Maria/Eliza Xmas fluff. Twoshot
1. Mistletoe

"Thanks for doing this, Maria," Eliza Schuyler says, glancing over her shoulder, her long black hair woven into a braid that's hanging down her back.

"Sure," Maria replies, unable to keep from smiling at the way Eliza compulsively nibbles at pieces of peppermint bark. It's endearing, really. "What are friends for?"

Wringing her hands before dusting off pieces of peppermint, Eliza goes on. "I mean, I wouldn't have asked, but my sisters both have significant others and I really didn't want to deal with questioning-"

"Eliza," Maria interrupts , "It's fine." Eliza smiles and takes the other girl by the shoulders, making Maria's pulse quicken as it always does around Eliza.

"This really does mean a lot to me," Eliza says earnestly.

Maria can only smile, letting her eyes trace the cupid's bow curvature of Eliza's mouth.

"Anything for you, 'Liza," is her only reply.

And then Angelica, Eliza's sister, is there with her boyfriend, John Church, dangling a sprig of mistletoe over Eliza and Maria's heads,with a mischievous grin.

"Hey, lovebirds. Can we get a kiss out of you two?"

A split second later, the chant spreads throughout the Schuyler household swelling to impressive volumes.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Maria glances at Eliza, who looks like a deer caught in headlights. The poor girl is shellshocked.

They have merely awkward seconds before the façade falls apart.

 _Now or never._

Maria takes a deep breath and moves forward, capturing Eliza's lips with hers, her hands coming up to cradle both sides of Eliza's face. The cheers of the Schuyler family fades to white noise as Eliza recovers from her shock and presses back.

Her lips are moving in sync with Maria's, and she tastes like peppermint and chocolate. Her chin tilts slightly, changing the angle, and Maria swears she can see lights dancing across the insides of her eyelids. It's all she's wanted for the past four years-

And then it all comes crashing down as she remembers that this is only an act, that Eliza is only playing a part, and the realization hits her like a ton of bricks.

She pulls back, and reality comes back and punches her hard in the chest. The red on Eliza's lips is smudged, like Maria's lipstick undoubtedly is as well, and Eliza looks almost dazed.

Everyone around them is too busy celebrating the successful kiss, and they quickly move on from it.

For some reason, it's that, the fact that everyone accepts it, that pushes Maria over the edge. She edges past distant relatives and Eliza's younger sister, Peggy, with her boyfriend James Madison, wanting to escape the party.

It's not everyone's fault they don't know the real situation. They're just reacting to what's presented in front of them.

They don't know Maria's had a crush on Eliza for almost four years. They don't know how much it hurts. They just see two happy girls in a relationship.

They just see a lie.

Maria keeps walking, weaving her way through the labyrinth of the Schuyler house, until she finally collapses on a couch, burying her face in her hands. A few tears find their way through her fingers, and drip down the backs of her hands, sliding down to her wrists. She wipes them on her red skirt, watching the fabric darken.

She never should've agreed to this.

What the hell just happened?

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 **Review, please!**


	2. Confessions

_What the hell just happened?_

This is the first thought that pierces the fog in Eliza's brain. She's brought out of her trance by Peggy, who claps a hand on her shoulder, asking her if she's alright. Eliza nods assent, and Peggy smiles before rejoining her boyfriend, James Madison in the throng of party guests, leaving Eliza to wonder: _What the hell just happened?_

First Angelica had shown up with mistletoe, and Eliza had found herself frozen, unsure of what to do when Maria, her angel, saved her from years of family ridicule by-

 _Shit._ Eliza pales. Maria had kissed her.

And Eliza had kissed her back.

Eliza's fingers dig into her hair as she fights the urge to scream. She probably had just screwed up everything with her crush.

Go fucking figure.

She has to find Maria, if she hasn't already left.

* * *

She sets off through the house, asking around, trying to locate Maria while simultaneously avoiding tricky questions from relatives.

Her search eventually leads her to the east wing of the house, and then she's tiptoeing through hallways, whispering Maria's name.

She finally finds Maria in the east wing's parlor, and she winces at Maria's position: slumped shoulders, bowed head.

"Maria?" she says softly.

Maria lifts her head, and Eliza's heart pangs because _shit I really hope those aren't tear tracks on her gorgeous face-_

"Are-are you okay?" Eliza asks tentatively.

Maria nods, staring down at her hands.

"God, Maria, I'm really sorry about that," Eliza bursts out, crossing the room and sitting down next to her. "I honestly don't know why they all did that, I guess they just get excited-"

"It's okay," Maria mumbles.

"No, it's not," Eliza replies vehemently. "I'm really sorry about all that, is there anything I can do to fix it?"

Maria gives a watery laugh, and shakes her head, before burying her face into her hands.

Eliza digs her nails into her scalp, biting her lip, trying once more to keep from exploding.

It doesn't work.

"God, I am such an idiot! I never should've asked you to do this. I should've asked Alex or someone else, except I didn't want to really ask anyone else, but it wasn't fair to you and I'm really sorry, Maria-"

"Eliza," Maria says. "Please don't."

Eliza doesn't know what else to do but sit in silence with Maria.

Silence doesn't work either.

"This evening did not go how I wanted it to. God, can just one of my confession plans go the right way?" she laments to herself, aloud.

She doesn't realize the full magnitude of what she says, not even when Maria goes still next to her.

"C-confession plans?"

Eliza freezes. _Shit. Can I get through anything without majorly screwing it up?_

There's not really any way to get out of it, at least not that she can see, so she summons up what little strength she has and lets the words roll off her tongue.

"I like you, Maria. I've liked you for ages and I just never knew what to say, and I really should've gotten it out sooner, but i liked what we had too much to risk losing it."

The words fall from her lips with staggering ease; she's shocked at how light-headed she feels after she _finally_! stops talking.

Maria doesn't say anything for a few minutes, and with her hidden face, Eliza can't see her expression either.

Then her shoulders start shaking, and that's when Eliza panics.

"Maria?" Her hand lands on Maria's trembling shoulders, and she anxiously searches Maria for some sign of what else could possibly be wrong.

But when Maria lifts her head she's smiling, and that's when Eliza realizes she's actually laughing.

"Wh-what's so funny?" Eliza asks, bewildered, and a little hurt, if she's going to be honest

Maria wipes tears (whether of laughter or not Eliza can't tell) off her face.

And then she takes a deep breath and says something that shatters everything into pieces.

"Well, that's a relief."

Eliza blinks. "What?"

"That's a relief," Maria repeats, "Because I like you too."

"What?"

Maria laughs again, then massages her temples with her fingers. "God, think what could've happened if one of us had just come out with it in the first place."

"Yeah…"

Maria's expression wilts a little suddenly, and alarmed, Eliza asks, "What? What is it?"

"It's nothing," Maria dismisses it.

"Yeah, the last time you kept something from me you never found I liked you," Eliza points out. "Not telling me would be saying nothing was learned from this experience."

"Fair enough," Maria concedes. "It's just...I'm a little disappointed our first kiss happened because your entire family and company were holding mistletoe over our heads and shouting at us. I don't know, it just seems impersonal."

"True…" Eliza muses. "I...don't suppose you'd...be up for a do-over?" she adds hesitantly.

Maria smiles, taking Eliza's hand in hers, before quietly murmuring, "And if I was…?" She leans toward the girl next to her.

Eliza finds her fingers curling around Maria's, her breath coming in shallow bursts, stopping short as Maria's lips descend on hers for the second time that night.

Maria is soft-spoken, all curves and quiet, and it seems to Eliza that her lips are no exception.

Her mouth moves against Eliza's with the same urgent gentleness it did under the mistletoe. Eliza's hand moves of its own accord into Maria's curly hair; this only seems to fuel Maria further.

It's perfect, well, better than perfect.

One could say it's quite the Christmas gift.

A Christmas gift unexpectedly rushed as Angelica and half the household bursts into the room.

"Heeyyyyy, lovebirds!" Angelica coos.

Eliza lets out a groan of frustration against Maria's mouth and breaks away. Maria is smiling, albeit a little exasperatedly.

"See what a little mistletoe can do?" Angelica says to the crowd. "Alright, we've messed with them enough. Come on." Angelica and the group disappear as quickly as they came, leaving two very embarrassed girls behind.

"I swear to God," Elzia mutters.

Maria laughs and risks another kiss, quicker this time, enjoying the blush that rises in Eliza's cheek.

"So, um, are we no longer fake-dating?" Maria asks. "Like, are we going to start, I don't know, 'real dating?'"

Eliza smiles. "I'd like that, if you want to."

"Yeah, I do," Maria replies.

Eliza giggles. "Good, me too."

All in all, it's a successful Christmas.

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 **Review, please!**


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